Elyse Sewell was a contestant and third runner up during Cycle 1 of ANTM.

A native of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Sewell obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of New Mexico. Sewell was known on the show as the “edgy pre-med student.” In 2005, one of her “confessional” clips from the show, in which she started a profanity-laden rant against the people on the show, earned her 16th place on E!’s Most Outrageous TV Moments.

Elyse dated Martin Crandall of the Shins until January 2008, when he allegedly assaulted her in a Sacramento hotel. Both Crandall and Elyse were charged with felony domestic assault, though their cases were later dimissed.

Previously, Elyse told the Singapore Straits Times in an interview that she had dumped her boyfriend because he cheated on her while she was working in Japan, though they reconciled shortly afterwards.

As a model, Elyse has been incredibly successful, especially in Asia where she has had print advertisements for Chanel and Chow Sang Sang Jewelry and appeared on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar Hong Kong.

Sewell’s first book, based in part on her LiveJournal Weblog, was published in Hong Kong in 2006. She appeared in multiple book signings across Hong Kong.

I’m not surprised that she made a name for herself in Hong Kong simply because she has a semi-Asian look about her (Eurasian?) that the Chinese love. I can say that with confidence ’cause i’m Chinese myself 😀

You MAD? Clara doesn’t mean that. What she meant was that Elyse kinda looks like part Asian, not because she has black hair. I mean, seriously? If you see some people who are sort of Caucasian-Asian, you’ll see what Clara meant.

Ron’s wrong. It is like that. Not all Asian folks, but many. It’s not a judgment, just a fact. There are “double eyelid” surgeries popular in Asia to give young Asian women (primarily) a more Western-look. And yes, I’ve been to Asia. Although it’s by no means true everywhere you go there, many young Asians really dig US-everything – jeans, baseball, Hollywood, etc. That’s starting to change, fortunately, as the East starts to rise and the US is beginning to falter.

For what it’s worth – of course she looks a bit Asian. She’s tall, so not that part, but she’s got a very slight build, tiny facial features, big eyes, and yes, short dark hair. She has a look I think many young Asian women would find accessible; more so than some of the blonde all-American looking models.

I think Elyse has this skinny, fragile, doe-eyed innocent look, plus her features are very delicate..and milky skin.. all these traits that Asian women and men love..
Whether she looks Eurasian or not.. she could pass as one.. look at Alexa Chung.. man, she looks purely Western.. I was shocked to find her part Asian.. except her last name gave away..

I always thought she had a lot of personality, but I thought she was going to medical school and didn’t like modelling? And I was very upset that things didn’t work out so well for Adrianne….I mean, she did WIN!!

I think Tyra should get a little credit for launching new models who otherwise might never have tried to become one. Elise was my second favorite in the first cycle, but I would have been very happy if she had won.

Tha´s true for most of the girls, I remenber Adrianne in a ANTM E! THS special talking about how she wrote to Tyra demanding jobs and complaining on her career not launching like she wanted, as if that was Tyra´s responsibility after the show; but I consider THIS case rare. Elyse has been booking these great jobs internationally and with nobody´s help long before top model. She says so in her casting video, and the portfolio speaks for itself. She busted her ass and travelled the world living in all kinds of places with strangers (fellow models) to make this fine work. Thumbs up. Palmas!

I’m not shocked she looks amazing on all these pictures and I’m totally not shocked she got all these jobs. But the thing I’m shocked about is that she actually tried and continued modeling outside of the competition. Mostly, because on the show it seemed like all she wanted to do was become a doctor. I agreed with Adrianne about Elyse. She said that Elyse hates everything about being a model and yet she’s the best at it.

She doesn’t really hate it. It’s more like she’s thinking about the future. She said it from the start that you can still be a doctor when you’re old, but you can be a model in a short period of time. If she hated it, she could not have send an audition tape in the first place. She did hate it because of the people. She didn’t like the way the other contestants behaved and thought. Especially about how the girls were making a really big deal out of everything fashion.

Elyse has set her mind in the future; like everything is not fashion because there will be a time when you’re no longer a model. So, in the other words, she’s very intellectual that she couldn’t really handle the environment in the show.

I loved Elyse and find it ironic that she’s become arguably the most successful of all the models to come from ANTM, especially considering they didn’t even select her for the final two. Finally, on the most recent cycle, they had another contestant who was high fashion, and they played it smart and selected her to win. As much as I respect Ann, she had nothing on Elyse when it comes to personal presentation, and I can’t help but wonder if ANTM missed it’s brightest star when the show decided to eliminate Elyse?

I think that she copped out at the end. I think that she knew she’d be big so there was no reason to have the title of antm. She knew she had it, even though she hated it at one point. Hey man, try living with just a group of women who are of different background and for some (Robin) who treated some of the girls like they were nothing because of how they portray themselves. I mean sh**, I’d go nuts and want to leave also. But good for her, and yeah she probably is the only one who is the most successful throughout all of the antm seasons put together.

Boo, I agree with you. That atmosphere was seriously toxic at some points. And it wasn’t just the varying backgrounds, there was also a religious aspect to it. I think it’s fair enough having your own beliefs, but to force them unpleasantly on someone else is seriously unethical in my books. And Robin did have a massive tendency to do that! That makes it uncomfortable for everyone all around.

I like Elyse. she has brain, personality and looks. Good thing she didn’t win or she’d have gone straight into fulfilling her contract prizes and wouldn’t have done her double degrees. Though whatever happened to her ‘doctor’ dream is anyone’s guess. I’m second guessing she wasn’t successful with her application to that faculty.

I also like Ann. She and Ann are same category; gentle and demure looking, but both strong inside and clever with charisma. Ann especially seems a very sweet and nice person with a vulnerable look. Elyse is more edgy and gutsy, but nonetheless sensitive like Ann is how I feel about them. No unnecessary judging of others.

I suspect that Robin, who forced her religion down others yet she was a hypocrite, who wouldn’t strip for the shoot yet exposed herself to Jay Manuel – she must be thinking doing that will advance her chance – almost like prostituting herself. Yuck. She’s so low class, no wonder Elyse couldnt stand her. Respect to Elyse for not slugging her off in a big way. In Elyse’s place I would have cursed at that braindead bimbo Robin.

I am glad she ditched her ugly boyfriend Martin Crandall. He’s not ugly physically, but also ugly as a person because he allegedly assaulted Elyse, but no charge was brought against him because Elyse was maganimous enough not to pursue the matter.

Done good like I figured she would, but I felt she was such a liar about modeling and it was a facade in case she did poorly. Nobody likes to lose, but she handled it by faking her likes, dislikes and eating habits.

Unfortunately, Elyse was a hot mess personally. I notice in her bio above, they only glancingly mention her violend, dysfunctional relationship and don’t at all mention her own drug addiction, eating disorder and multiple arrests. Please don’t admire this girl. There is literally nothing there to admire.

melissa,who do you think you are,by judging people just like that?!are you God or something?or are you just jealous?Elyse is just a person like everyone else,can’t be perfect in this world without makin’ mistakes,but you have to accept the truth,she’s amazing! 🙂

Have you read her blog? It’s full of pictures of her eating loads of food, some people are just naturally thin. No reason to bash her. It’s also not her fault that her boyfriend beat her up, and she broke up with him afterward. Completely unwarranted assessment.

Where are you getting all that from, Melissa? It doesn’t seem backed up by any public information so either you know something most people don’t or you’re just throwing stones and casting aspersions. Yes Elyse was arrested with her now ex-boyfriend, and some people thought she had an eating disorder on the show, and she is really thin, so is Kate Moss, and somehow everyone was shocked, shocked! when it was revealed that Kate Moss used drugs – in an industry that has exposes young, young girls and women to bizarre situations and demands they stay in an almost pre-pubescent state? I think there’s plenty to admire in Elyse. She’s got the brains to know what she was getting into, and to those saying “she was going to be a doctor!” she still can be a doctor, like she said on America’s Next Top Model that can wait, being a model can’t. The show really benefited from having her on it, and the combination of Elyse and Adrianne vs. Robin and the holy rollers made for more interesting conversations and interactions than any subsequent series have managed (although Jayla wanted to be like Elyse really, really bad, and failed). After Robin was eliminated and Adrianne and Elyse included Shannon completely and even brought her out a bit was wonderful; Robin would never have done that in reverse. It was also okay that she was eliminated; she dozed off during a meeting with someone giving them advice and again from a television standpoint it was Shannon and Adrianne that really wanted it, and I for one was thrilled that Adrianne won, and am equally delighted to see Elyse being successful at anything she chooses to do.

I love the fact that she doesn’t have to tuck in that gut when modeling. It gives her an advantage over models who do not have naturally flat stomachs. I also love that she looks like Twiggy in some of her photographs.

I watched Cycle 1 and loved it – because Elyse was on it. Haven’t watched ANTM since, except for little snippets of each season before I see that every girl since Elyse has basically been the typical ANTM contestant – shallow, petty, and ignorant. Heard about the All-Star cycle just a few days ago, and was like, “God, I hope they bring back Elyse!” Then found out they didn’t – interest level, once again, zero. -.-

I really miss reading her blog I keep checking it every 6 months or so hoping she came back to it. She’s a great personality and someone I think deserves more positive attention. She stood up for what she believed and I respect her a lot.

I am very very proud of her. She was a remarkable person, who had both brains and beauty. But What happened to her? She’s almost disappeared the face of the earth- she has completely abandoned her blog (for 4 years), no updates on her youtube channel – nothing. I am getting really worried. Wherever she is, I hope she’s happy.
She was very human, she wasn’t perfect and I loved her honesty. She was edgy, dorky but that just added to her amazing personality. She was imperfectly perfect. I just love her.
If anyone hears anything about her, please please comment. Thanks 🙂

I’m so glad she didn’t win, she was hateful and disrespectful. There are plenty of models who are intelligent, she for some reason thought she was better because she was educated. She’s a beautiful girl on the outside, but she’s lost on the inside, which comes off as bitchy and cocky. That rant about the other girls was totally uncalled for. She had not even known them that long to be rattling off judgments. She felt the need to convince everyone that she didn’t care about modeling, and complained about how ridiculous she thought all of it was, yet went on to pursue it. If she didn’t really want it, she should not have taken the chance away from someone who really did. What a hypocrite. Good for her on her success, I hope she found herself somewhere on the way.

These are some of the more amazing pictures of all the models put together. She’s a natural. I could see her in W magazine with all the other high fashion models. She’s a little too thin in a few of the photos but all in all they are brilliant.

Elyse was the only thing interesting about ANTM. I honestly think the only reason she didn’t win is because she wasn’t dumb enough. There was no way Tyra was going to allow the person who came in there with a brain and basically laughed at the profession to be the winner. Cause everyone knows, modeling is super duper serious, lol.

I think if you look back at judges comments, you’ll see that Janice Dickinson always favoured Elyse – Elyse even commented that Janice would wink at her to give her the nod that she was through to the next phase. In one of the shows, you can see Janice screaming out “She’s gorgeous” as Tyra throws Elyse’s picture down and chooses the generic, square-jawed Shannon instead. So at least one of the judges wanted Elyse, but Tyra was offended that Elyse had called models dumb, so she paid the price. Elyse is stunning, her blog was amazing – witty, funny and always interesting. I’ve tried to find her book at Amazon, but they don’t have it. Where are you, Elyse?

For someone who you think laughed at the profession, she sure pursued it seriously. If it was such laughable job, why didn’t she become a doctor?? Its kind of ignorant of you to make fun of something that means so much to these girls. I am sure the women who pursue it take it very seriously. I think Elyse was mean and nasty.. I am not surprised she was in a domestic violence case. It wouldn’t surprise me if she provoked it. Look how she verbally attacked the girls on the show.

Agree with the last entry, obviously she should have used smaller words to Janice Dickinson when they asked her the now famous question about ” what other than physical attributes does it take to be a top model” – a politician will be the first one to tell you that your answer to a question depends on who your audience is – maybe she should have just started singing “How excellent ….” Robin eat your heart out !

Addendum: Adrienne, as much as I liked her, admitted that she was a high school drop-out, (great role model you picked there Tyra)…..hmmmm, med student, high school drop-out……med student, high school drop-out I think Elyse was correct from the get-go

she was my favorite. She was the only one who gave her honest to blog opinion of everyone, and was not afraid during any of the shoots. I really thought that she would win. I’m absolutely glad that she went on to have a good career in fashion, because I don’t think that being a doctor would have suited her that well.